The Gophers football team will open its next four seasons on Thursday night.

The "U" announced on Tuesday it has reached agreement with the Minnesota State Fair to open the Thursday before Labor Day weekend at TCF Bank Stadium, rather than on that following Saturday.

The openers will be against UNLV on Aug. 29, 2013; Eastern Illinois on Aug. 28, 2014; South Dakota on Sept. 3, 2015; and New Mexico State on Sept. 1, 2016.

Other changes to future football schedules announced on Tuesday include the cancellation of the Gophers' home-and-home series with North Carolina in 2013 and '14 and the addition of nonconference home games against Kent State (Sept. 19, 2015) and South Dakota State (Aug. 29, 2019).